Take-backs

If you take something back, you return it to the place where you bought it or where you borrowed it from, because it is unsuitable or broken, or because you have finished with it.

If I buy something and he doesn’t like it, I’ll take it back.

The US 2003 invasion of Iraq has become a take-back. Once it became clear that Saddam Hussein did not possess significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), many people and organizations who initially supported and justified the invasion knew we shouldn’t be involved.

Like the mainstream media, who knew that the WMD claims didn’t pass the smell test, but stood to make a ton of advertising revenue, so they stopped doing their REAL jobs: question the status quo and speak for the American people.

Like most members of Congress. See above, but instead of revenue wanted to look patriotic and not seem un-American. Scoring political capital was way more important than doing THEIR jobs. At least Barack Obama was one of the few who voted NO to the invasion.

Like then-Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), who to her credit didn’t accept the Bush Administration’s claims outright but sought to get more information.

I don’t resent her because she ended up voting to go to war. It’s for her refusing to take responsibility for doing so, because she made the decision regardless of whether she believed the flimsy intelligence which sent the US down that path.

I was watching a segment of “Real Time”, with Bill Maher. The discussion turned to Hillary Clinton voting for the 2003 invasion. A woman on the panel who was clearly a fan of Hillary’s made the statement “she admitted that she made a mistake.”

Ok. That’s where you lost me.

A “mistake” is not using your directional while making a turn.

A “mistake” is writing the wrong year on a personal check.

As an elected leader, a New York Senator and member of Congress, she decided to vote for a military operation which had and continues to have enormous consequences, for our country and the rest of the world. By invading Iraq, we opened a Pandora’s Box of tribal, religious and national rivalries which had lain dormant under the iron fist of Saddam Hussein. Without Saddam and his heavy-handed cronies to keep everyone in line, the country and region exploded.

4424 American servicemen and women died because of her decision. Another 31,952 came home wounded. Half a million Iraqi civilians died due to sectarian violence and terrorist attacks. Hundreds of thousands more were displaced as a result and attempted to flee to neighboring countries, Europe and the US. The Islamic State which grew out of the aftermath has launched attacks in Europe and North America.

The American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is arguably the worst geopolitical disaster in history, and this supporter of Mrs. Clinton refers to it as a “mistake.” I get that she and the rest of Congress were duped, but they still decided to go ahead with the invasion.

Take a look at this photo.

It’s of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt at the monument for the Jewish Uprising in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. It’s only one of many monuments to the murder of Jews by the Nazi Regime.

A regime which Brandt did not support.

A regime which caused Brandt to escape to neutral Sweden for the duration of the war.

Brandt had no personal or professional involvement in any of the atrocities committed by Germany under Hitler, but he felt the compulsion to drop to his knees before the monument. And because he was Germany’s Chancellor, he was in effect showing remorse and humility on the part of his country.

That’s what a true leader does: he or she accepts responsibility for his actions and for those of his country or organization.

I don’t believe that Mrs. Clinton or the others who voted for the 2003 invasion-and then backpedaled-should be dropping to their knees in front of Iraq War graves or monuments. There are far too many of them and that’s not enough.

When she and the others who set the wheels in motion are changing bedpans at Veterans Affairs hospitals, then I’ll believe they have remorse.

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Collins Dictionary phrasal verb: If you take something back, you return it to the place where you bought it or where you borrowed it from, because it is unsuitable or broken, or because you have finished with it. If I buy something and he doesn’t like it, I’ll take it back. The US 2003 invasion of […]